Finishing in second place was Lady Gaga, powered by $80 million in income and a high social media score. Director Steven Spielberg finished third, buoyed by all the media attention for his latest movie, “Lincoln.” Beyonce took fourth place, 28 spots ahead of her husband, Jay-Z.

Seven Spielberg, the No. 3 most powerful celebrity according to Forbes, didn’t win an Academy Award for ‘Lincoln,’ but did come away with plenty of positive press. (Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

Madonna [Ciccone] finished fifth, but can console herself with the $125 million she earned between June 2012 and June 2013, easily the highest among the celebrities on the list.

The Forbes list, however, uses more than just celebrities’ earnings. According to the magazine, the rankings are based on an algorithm measuring “fame” — and includes mentions in print and on television, their Internet presence, social networking presence and their marketability with the American public.

Taylor Swift (No. 6) and Justin Bieber (No. 9) cracked the top 10 based largely on their social media domination and inability to stay out of the glossy gossip magazines.

Madonna [Ciccone] (No. 5) earned the most money — $125 million, courtesy of her MDNA tour — of any celebrity on the list. (Jennifer Graylock/Getty Images)

That’s also why Hugh Jackman finished in 11th place, nine spots ahead of Robert Downey Jr., who hauled in $20 million more than his fellow actor, but has zero social media presence.

Taylor Swift finished in sixth place on the Forbes list, which measures earnings and ‘fame’ between June 2012 and June 2013. (Carlos Osorio/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

R&B superstar Rihanna, who finished thirteenth, notched the most headlines — but was weighed down by an embarassing [sic] 60th in marketability rank likely fueled by her steady stream of tawdry tweets.

Maybe you think you’re cute or hilarious, but you’re not. Every time you post a fake death notice with that woman’s name on it, you gladden hearts ‘round the world, only to dash their hopes, when they learn the truth.

A Ramsey County District Court jury Friday acquitted Issac Oneal Maiden on all four counts he faced in the gang beating that nearly killed Ray Widstrand on a street in St. Paul's Payne-Phalen neighborhood.

Jurors said afterward that there were many conflicting accounts of the attack but little hard evidence of Maiden's involvement.

Maiden, 19, of St. Paul was charged with first-degree robbery and assault, as well as committing those crimes for the benefit of a gang. He was the only adult defendant charged in the Aug. 4 beating.

Bruce Wenger, Maiden's attorney, said he was "thrilled" at the verdict, which produced a firm handshake and a hug from his client.

Wenger added that he hoped those responsible for the assault would be convicted.

"This was a horrible crime, and I feel for the family," he said.

Ramsey County prosecutors said in a statement they were disappointed by the verdict but "will respect it and move forward to the remaining cases."

The jury deliberated for about four hours Friday afternoon, sorting through a morass of conflicting testimony. Some witnesses put Maiden at the center of the beating; others said he was nowhere near the attack.

Widstrand's family didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

One juror, Shoua Yang, said many of the witnesses seemed to be withholding something or dodging the truth, making it hard to determine whom to believe.

"It wasn't an easy decision to make," she said.

Tom Paulson, another juror, said Maiden himself seemed to be lying about a key part of his alibi -- being incapacitated by pepper spray just before Widstrand arrived on the scene.

He said jurors were skeptical of that claim because Maiden appeared fine in videos taken just before the beating. But in the end, Paulson said, there was no proof he participated.

He said the testimony of Rozell Grainger, a juvenile who has pleaded guilty in the attack and said Maiden was not involved, was particularly compelling. Grainger, the juror said, had "nothing else to lose."

[Nonsense. Testifying against Maiden could have cost him his life.]

Paulson also said he thought prosecutors had singled out Maiden because he was featured prominently in the videos.

Note that Jesse Jackson Sr. is no more a reverend than Phil Robertson is, and probably less, since unlike Jackson, Robertson seems to have actually read the Old and New Testament. “Reverend” is merely a fraudulent title that Jackson has assumed. He has neither studied for the ministry, nor been ordained. Actually, he should have long ago been arrested for fraud, since he has raked in millions of dollars through using that false title, in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars he has raked in through racially-motivated extortion.

Jesse Jackson has decided to weigh in on the inflammatory comments that Phil Robertson made to GQ about gays and African Americans.

In an interview with Drew Magary, the "Duck Dynasty" star said the Nazis needed Jesus, that he never saw the mistreatment of African Americans while growing up in Louisiana before the civil rights era and that homosexuality was a sin.

A&E has already suspended Robertson, but Reverend Jackson, his Rainbow PUSH Coalition and GLAAD are demanding to meet with network execs, along with Cracker Barrel's CEO, to discuss the future of all "Duck Dynasty" memorabilia or content.

"These statements uttered by Robertson are more offensive than the bus driver in Montgomery, Alabama, more than 59 years ago," Jackson said in a statement obtained by ABC News.

"At least the bus driver, who ordered Rosa Parks to surrender her seat to a white person, was following state law. Robertson's statements were uttered freely and openly without cover of the law, within a context of what he seemed to believe was 'white privilege.'"

The release, dated Dec. 23, requests a meeting within 72 hours with A&E and Cracker Barrel execs and urges the network to uphold Robertson's suspension.

Jackson and GLAAD said they believe it's not right for a personality with such a large platform to benefit from such comments.

If National Review weren’t so cowardly, it would have made it clear what is going on here, as I did with my headline.

December 11, 2013 4:00 A.M.Biotech’s Mommy Issue
Women are targeted by anti-GMO activists but deserve to know the truth.

By Julie Gunlock

Comments (224)

Advertisers and marketing experts know that in the typical household, the woman is the primary shopper. Whether they are selling cars or light bulbs or groceries, they have to appeal to women, their consumer base.

The same goes for organizations selling fear and worry: If they want to attract converts to their cause, they have to convince women to embrace their views and join them in agitating for action. And so it goes for activists opposed to the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), who bombard women with misinformation about food safety.

Rather than falling for these tactics, women should take a reasoned look at the facts behind biotechnology and the cost and consequences of the policies activists advance. They’ll find that the anti-GMO hype is the real threat to their families’ well-being.

Radical environmental groups initially led the charge against GMOs, but today, some of the most vocal and influential anti-GMO activists are found on mommy blogs and parenting, cooking, and so-called health-and-wellness websites — all of which are popular with moms.

These seemingly innocuous sources regularly pin a variety of ailments on GMOs: from food allergies and stomach ailments to obesity, infertility, autism, and even cancer. Using Jenny McCarthy’s playbook for creating panic, some well-meaning though woefully misinformed mommy bloggers rely not on science but on emotional anecdotes to promote the idea that humans are in grave danger from GM food. Even more troubling is their inaccurate claim that its safety hasn’t been adequately examined, even though GMOs are among the most scientifically scrutinized subjects. And the thousands of legitimate studies on GMOs tell a reassuring story.

The latest analysis, which examined more than 1,700 separate studies on GM food, was conducted at the University of Perugia and published in the September issue of Critical Reviews in Biotechnology. The researchers found no instances of harm, to humans or to animals, caused by GM food, nor did researchers find any evidence that GM food is toxic or allergenic. Researchers also debunked the claim that GM crops damage the environment. This is only the latest study among hundreds of independent studies with similar findings.

Unfortunately, they make few headlines and are ignored by activists. Moms are advised that when it comes to GMOs, they should subscribe to the “precautionary principle,” which is the regulatory norm in Europe, where regulators don’t actually have to prove a product is harmful to regulate it.

Moms aren’t hearing the whole story and should be aware of the enormous costs associated with these regulations. For example, a dozen states are considering bills to label GM food. That may sound harmless, but labeling mandates will lead to fewer food choices for consumers and will harm the very businesses many of the anti-GMO activists claim to defend: the small farmer and upstart food producer. GMO labeling might be doable for large food manufacturers, but for businesses just starting out, medium-sized food companies, and small-scale farmers, the costs of these new regulations could be crushing. That’s right: Anti-GMO labeling laws will help Big Food by quashing the competition.

Smaller businesses would face a regulatory and legal nightmare just trying to enforce the labeling rules. For instance, who is ultimately responsible for product labeling — the food manufacturer,or the retailer? What if a retailer stocks products that are mislabeled? Is the retailer responsible to certify that the testing carried out by the food manufacturer is accurate? At least one sector will thrive under this policy: the trial lawyers eager to sniff out accidental errors in labeling.

Women should be aware that the market has already devised a labeling system thatgives consumers the option of buying food free of GMOs. The “organic” label signals that a product is GMO-free, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture monitors the labeling to ensure compliance.

The food and biotech industry should take notice that, rather than just reacting to misleading information from radical environmentalistgroups, they need to do a better job of explaining to moms about the safety of GMOs. This is more than just good business: Women deserve to hear the good news about the studies confirming the safety of GMOs — and the bad news about the costs of needless regulation. Busy moms have enough to worry about and will welcome getting GMOs off their already-long list of concerns.

Hard core Disney fans out there may remember that scene in the” Sorcerer’s Apprentice” where Mickey can’t stop the mops, brooms and walking buckets filled with soapy water – highly amusing scene but in this case we’re Mickey Mouse and our wives are the Mick’s better half, cute Minnie Mouse. We can’t stop our legislators from creating new laws, publishing more regulations and going all Government Helicopter Mom on us.

We don’t remember the incantation to make it all stop, the Democratic mops and the Republican brooms constantly increase their manic cleaning activities, we’re all drowning in their ever increasing regulatory frenzy - or at least up to our lower lips in filthy water. “The Sorcerer”, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Professor Dumbledore in Harry Potter, saves Apprentice Mickey at the last moment with only a single word. Mickey is left sopping wet, chagrined, embarrassed and having learned a valuable lesson.

Americans, unlike Mickey, haven’t learned that one important lesson and the first rule of magic: Be careful what you cast your spells for. Sheep once grazed on the White House lawn and government was much smaller and less ambitious during our Golden Age. Now the sheep are gone and soon we’ll all be government employees. Our politicians are determined to address every trivial complaint we voters can possibly imagine, from the difficulty in obtaining cheap Super Bowl tickets to occasional bouts of itchy hemorrhoids. And that’s a politician’s traditional path to wealth, fame and power. But what about us Mickeys and how did that incantation go again?

orenv to bayareaguy

But you can be sure the companies with large bottom lines are currently writing these regulations, and the guy or gal at your local farmers market is not. This is the nature of the regulatory State.
For the true believers, there are all sorts of organic certifications one can go through to "label" their food "organic". Of course about half of them, expecially anything put out by the Federal Government were written by Monsanto lawyers... Reading the FDA version of this it says you can be organic if you use organic practices, but if they "don't work" you can use poisons and still call yourself organic. But there are others created by true believers such as "Oregon Tilth certified organic". God bless them, but don't force me to buy from them.

JB

This article implies that American education has failed on many levels particularly science. As it stands most of our corn and soybeans are products of genetic modifications. In fact almost everything we eat, even our pets have been manipulated. As far as labeling goes- corn(gm) or soybeans (gm) I wouldn't have any problems eating them and I can't wait to eat some of Aqua Bounty's new salmon (gm).

Tristan the great to JB

Isn't the blight free potato a result of genetic modification?

JB to Tristan the great

I don't know. I do recommend "Challenging Nature" by Lee Silver. He is a micro-biologist or a geneticist from Princeton and his book is very accessible to the lay or the non-science folks. For the historical among us I recommend "The Lysenko Affair"(author?) it details the anti-science left in Stalin's Russia and in it you can see the same mentality in todays extreme environmentalist.

Mark Andrew, 63, was at a Starbucks inside the mall at around 7 p.m. Thursday when a man grabbed his phone off his table and ran off.

When Andrew went after him, he was tackled by two teenage girls – aged 18 and 17 — one of which began beating him with a billy club. During the attack, they told Andrew, “We’re going to kill you,” police say.

Andrew was left with a large gash on his head that required nine stitches. He has since been released from the hospital.

Andrew said Friday that he chased after the thief, because he’s not a bystander by nature.

“If somebody is gonna do that to me or somebody else, I’m not a bystander by nature I’ll go in and fight,” he said.

The two women who attacked Andrew were arrested and are in custody. The 18-year-old was identified as Letajia Shapree Cutler-Cain, of Brooklyn Park. She is pictured above and is being held pending felony charges of aiding and abetting aggravated robbery.

Police are still searching for the male suspect.

Andrew’s phone was found Thursday by shoppers.

AmRen reader negrolocaust supplemented this story with additional material:
A second teenager accused of assaulting a white former Minneapolis mayoral candidate has been charged Monday, according to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.

Seventeen-year-old Deea Leshawn Elliot was charged by juvenile petition with two counts of aggravated first-degree robbery and one count of second-degree assault for an attack on Mark Andrew, 63, at the Mall of America on Thursday.
According to the criminal complaint, a man grabbed Andrew’s iPhone from him in a Starbucks at the MOA. Andrew chased after the suspect, but was stopped by Elliot and 18-year-old Letajia Cutler Cain, who blocked the shop’s door.

Whitetrashgang: You would think black people by now would name their kids proper names like Felony, Carjacker, B+E, Pimp and so on, I just don't get it.
MekongDelta69
"Letaija Shapree Cutler-Cain"
What could POSSIBLY go wrong with that name?!?
________________________And in other news:
On Drudge, on the right column - 2nd from top (as I write this), there's a news story:No arrests in brutal 'knockout' attack on Christmas-lit
downtown mall...
(http://www[dot]c-ville[dot]com/knock-out-victims-of-brutal-downtown-mall-assault-want-arrests-and-answers-from-police/#[dot]UsGqqkB2DfJ)
COMMENTS ARE CLOSED.
"Dear Readers, This is a local news story about an alleged assault that occurred on our Downtown Mall. Please do not use this comment stream as a forum for social diatribes, for racist ranting, or for expressing anger. We will delete you.
Thanks,
Giles Morris - The Editor"
_________________________
So, just for the heck of it, I wrote Giles Morris (editor[at]c-ville[dot]com)
Giles Morris
Re: 'Random' Knockout Assault
You are a frightened leftist punk for closing down your comment section.
As with every other knockout 'game,' there was no 'random' to it or 'alleged' to it.
It's ALWAYS black on white - and you know it.
The only 'racism' involved is - and always has been - black racism.
But then again, your profile (http://www[dot]c-ville[dot]com/author/gilesmorris/) says you were a community agitator like your 'messiah,' so there's no surprise there.
To you, TRUTH = 'RACISM'
You're patheticP.S. He never wrote back. Nobody I've ever written has EVER written me back....

Who teaches the teachers? Recent incidents in which teacher education professors and administrators persecuted students, exemplify a racist, totalitarian movement, in which the people entrusted with training teachers seek to turn all of America’s public school teachers into political apparatchiks, brainwashing them, and through them, America’s children, in order to bring about an anti-white, Marxist revolution. Teacher education programs combine repression, revolutionary politics, counterproductive pedagogy and pseudo-scholarship.

At the Brooklyn College campus of the City University of New York, students in the required course “Language Literacy in Secondary Education” who disagreed with instructor Priya Parmar’s advocacy for “ebonics” were persecuted and given low grades. As reported by Jacob Gershman in the June 3 New York Sun, students said that Parmar, the only instructor who teaches the course, “denounced white people as the oppressors.” Meanwhile, Scott McConnell was expelled by Jesuit LeMoyne College in Syracuse, NY, for declaring in the personal philosophy of teaching he was assigned to write, that he opposes multiculturalism and believes in corporal punishment.

When Brooklyn College students disagreed with Priya Parmar’s advocacy for so-called ebonics, and supported the teaching of Standard English, she shut them out of class discussions. Students then complained to the Brooklyn College administration. As the Sun reported, “‘Most troubling of all,’ [student Evan] Goldwyn wrote, ‘she has insinuated that people who disagree with her views on issues such as Ebonics or Fahrenheit 911 should not become teachers.’”

Parmar allegedly retaliated, by claiming that Goldwyn and another student who disagreed with her were guilty of “plagiarism,” and lowered their grades. She also reportedly got a colleague, Barbara Winslow, to attempt to organize a campaign against Goldwyn. Winslow wrote to Goldwyn’s other professors, claiming that the School of Education had “serious concerns about his disruptive behavior in the SOE classroom as well as aggressive and bullying behavior toward his professor outside the class.”

The charge of plagiarism related to quotations in teacher “lesson plans” that Goldwyn and the other student had prepared. But one cannot be guilty of plagiarism based on an unattributed quotation in a lesson plan. Thus was the “plagiarism” charge dishonest and a form of political retaliation.

At LeMoyne College, as Scott McConnell told me, he had never claimed that he would engage in corporal punishment, just that “based on personal experience and research,” he understood it to have been shown to have beneficial results. “Not once did I mention that I would enforce it.” However, his professor, Mark J. Trabucco, passed along McConnell’s paper to Cathy Leogrande, the director of the Graduate Education Program, who expelled him. Leogrande wrote to McConnell on January 13, 2005, “I have grave concerns regarding the mismatch between your personal beliefs regarding teaching and learning and the LeMoyne College program goals.”

The relevant passage of McConnell’s paper reads thusly:

“I do not feel that multicultural education has a philosophical place or standing in an American classroom, especially one that I will teach. I also feel that corporal punishment has a place in the classroom and should be implemented when needed.”

McConnell had maintained a 3.78 average, and got glowing evaluations for 64-hours spent as a student teacher.

McConnell told me that he still hopes to continue his training and become a teacher.

McConnell filed suit against LeMoyne College on May 4. He seeks immediate reinstatement as a student at LeMoyne College, protection from retaliation by the various defendants, and a total of $40 million for the violation of his First Amendment rights, the infliction of emotional distress, and punitive damages. He is represented by local attorney Sam Abady, and by Michael E. Rosman of the Center for Individual Rights, and supported by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (thefire.org).

McConnell’s attorneys have been able to use statements LeMoyne Provost John Smarelli Jr. made on March 15 to CNN host Aaron Brown, where Smarelli claimed that McConnell’s beliefs were in violation of New York State law, to argue that LeMoyne officials were acting “under color of law.”

There are no laws against having certain beliefs in America; Smarelli not only invented laws, but expounded on them on national TV.

In their filing, McConnell’s attorneys argued that LeMoyne College officials violated his rights under the federal and New York State constitutions, New York education law, and as set out in their own college handbook. The attorneys showed as well that, contradicting LeMoyne officials, large bodies of scholarship challenge both multiculturalism and the bias against all corporal punishment.

In the case of Brooklyn College, the School of Education was enforcing the similar notion of “dispositions.”

College teacher education programs have a stranglehold on the credentialing of public school teachers. The nation’s largest organization accrediting college teacher education programs, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), has decreed that teacher education students be graded based on their “dispositions.” And the required “disposition” is “multiculturalism,” a mixture of revolutionary Marxism and anti-white racism. Thus can failing an illegal political litmus test cause the education of an academically superior student and excellent classroom teacher to be wasted, and his career to be destroyed before it has even begun. NCATE dominates teaching accreditation in 46 states.

Priya Parmar and the other multiculturalists who dominate teacher education call one of their central ideas “language rights.” According to “language rights” dogma, there is no common language in America, but countless “minority languages” and a “majority language” that no “minority language” speaker is obligated to learn. Blacks may speak “ebonics,” and Hispanics may speak Spanish or the unintelligible mishmash of “Spanglish.” Then why spend billions of taxpayer dollars on English and remedial education classes? For multiculturalists, such classes function in order to retard students’ (particularly minority students’) educational progress, to hire minority teachers—many of whom are themselves functionally illiterate—and as political indoctrination programs.

Multiculturalists claim that black and Hispanic children learn Standard English better through pedagogy using black slang (“Ebonics”) and Spanish (“bilingualism”), respectively, than through pedagogy using Standard English. However, the opposite is true. “Bilingual” and “Ebonics” education are proven failures.

John Russell Rickford, a Stanford University professor of linguistics and education, and one of the leading advocates of teaching black children Standard English via readers written in black dialect (aka African-American Vernacular English aka Ebonics), claims in the book he co-wrote with his son, Russell John Rickford, Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English, that research has shown that black children make great gains using dialect readers written in “Ebonics.” However, the research carried out on poor black children in East Palo Alto, CA by the elder Rickford and his wife, Angela, who is also a professor of education and linguistics at Stanford, failed miserably, a fact the book does not mention. Afrocentric allies of the Rickfords, such as Keith Gilyard, an English professor at Penn State University, have for years spread the falsehood that the Rickfords’ experiment was a success.

In John and Angela Rickford’s research, as laid out in their 1995 paper, “Dialect Readers Revisited,” they showed that black children taught with Standard English readers did almost twice as well as those taught with black dialect (“Ebonics”) readers. The students taught in black dialect scored only 46.3% correct on a reading comprehension test, as opposed to the students who were taught and tested on Standard English readers, who scored 90% correct. And it’s no wonder, when one considers the sort of slangy, baby talk dialect the Rickfords seek to inflict on seventh-graders (12 and 13-year-olds).

“This here little Sister name Mae was most definitely untogether. I mean, like she didn’t act together. She didn’t look together. She was just an untogether Sister.

“Her teacher was always sounding on her ‘bout day dreaming in class. I mean, like, just ‘bout every day the teacher would be getting on her case. “But it didn’t seem to bother her none. She just kept on keeping on. Like, I guess daydreaming was her groove. And you know what they say: “don’t knock your Sister’s groove. But a whole lotta people did knock it. But like I say, she just kept on keeping on.”

The incidents at LeMoyne and Brooklyn colleges were not flukes. Similar situations will continue to occur, until promising candidates can become teachers without teacher education degrees, and teacher education professors and accreditation organizations lose their power.

Candace de Russy, a trustee of the State University of New York and adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute, who has for years fought multiculturalism told this reporter,

“‘Dispositions’ is teaching these students not how to think critically, but rather a manipulative and coercive type of pedagogy basically dictating left-leaning political views these future teachers must have. It is indoctrination and not education.

“Not requiring poor and minority students to write and speak Standard English is a grave injustice to them. They need this command of Standard English to survive and to prosper and to fulfill their obligations as citizens….

“These young Americans—teachers and students—are being consciously taught to reject our common language and first principles, and underlying that is the notion that America is singularly oppressive and evil and that is dangerous to this country.”

Multiculturalists seek to isolate most blacks and Hispanics into cultural islands of poverty, ignorance, and hatred, the better eventually to use them as revolutionary storm troopers, and turn an educational dictatorship into a political dictatorship.

Note Ortutay’s emphasis on Obamacare, which she refers to by its official name, the “Affordable Care Act.” She is outraged by the criticisms of it in Website comment sections. Heck, even many Democrats have excoriated it, but she can’t even tolerate criticisms of Obamacare?!

Whenever someone promotes “civility,” it’s a cover for suppressing speech. They define any speech that disagrees them as “hate speech.”

Note that Ortutay permits no comments. The demand that people use their real names is in order to intimidate them out of saying what they believe, out of a legitimate fear of being terrorized. The point, however, is to stifle debate, not to get people to be more mannerly. For instance, when I told The Boss recently of how Web censors have been permablocking me left and right, when I use my real name, she told me I should use fake names. And that did indeed help me once with the New York Times about six years ago. But that was before the rise of shameless calls for Web totalitarianism, like the one below.

Thus, if you oppose racial socialism and speak your unvarnished opinion, whether you find a way to use a nom de cyber, or simply write under your own name, the civility police will delete your comment, and/or ban you.

NEW YORK (AP) - Mix blatant bigotry with poor spelling. Add a dash of ALL CAPS. Top it off with a violent threat. And there you have it: A recipe for the worst of online comments, scourge of the Internet.

Blame anonymity, blame politicians, blame human nature. But a growing number of websites are reining in the Wild West of online commentary. Companies including Google and the Huffington Post are trying everything from deploying moderators to forcing people to use their real names in order to restore civil discourse. Some sites, such as Popular Science, are banning comments altogether.

The efforts put sites in a delicate position. User comments add a lively, fresh feel to videos, stories and music. And, of course, the longer visitors stay to read the posts, and the more they come back, the more a site can charge for advertising.

What websites don't want is the kind of off-putting nastiness that spewed forth under a recent CNN.com article about the Affordable Care Act.

"If it were up to me, you progressive libs destroying this country would be hanging from the gallows for treason. People are awakening though. If I were you, I'd be very afraid," wrote someone using the name "JBlaze."

YouTube, which is owned by Google, has long been home to some of the Internet's most juvenile and grammatically incorrect comments. The site caused a stir last month when it began requiring people to log into Google Plus to write a comment. Besides herding users to Google's unified network, the company says the move is designed to raise the level of discourse in the conversations that play out under YouTube videos.

One such video, a Cheerios commercial featuring an interracial family, met with such a barrage of racist responses on YouTube in May that General Mills shut down comments on it altogether.

"Starting this week, when you're watching a video on YouTube, you'll see comments sorted by people you care about first," wrote YouTube product manager Nundu Janakiram and principal engineer Yonatan Zunger in a blog post announcing the changes. "If you post videos on your channel, you also have more tools to moderate welcome and unwelcome conversations. This way, YouTube comments will become conversations that matter to you."

Anonymity has always been a major appeal of online life. Two decades ago, The New Yorker magazine ran a cartoon with a dog sitting in front of a computer, one paw on the keyboard. The caption read: "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." At its best, anonymity allows people to speak freely without repercussions. It allows whistle blowers and protesters to espouse unpopular opinions. At its worst, it allows people to spout off without repercussions. It gives trolls and bullies license to pick arguments, threaten and abuse.

But anonymity has been eroding in recent years. [Translation: The Lords of the ‘Net have been working to erode the privacy of those whom they consider “the little people.”] On the Internet, many people may know not only your name, but also your latest musings, the songs you've listened to, your job history, who your friends are and even the brand of soap you prefer.

"It's not so much that our offline lives are going online, it's that our offline and online lives are more integrated," says [Obamaton] Mark Lashley, a professor of communications at La Salle University in Philadelphia. Facebook, which requires people to use their real names, played a big part in the seismic shift.

"The way the Web was developed, it was unique in that the avatar and the handle were always these things people used to go by. It did develop into a Wild West situation," he says, adding that it's no surprise that Google and other companies are going this route. "As more people go online and we put more of our lives online, we should be held accountable for things we say."

Nearly three-quarters of teens and young adults think people are more likely to use discriminatory language online or in text messages than in face to face conversations, according to a recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and MTV. The poll didn't distinguish between anonymous comments and those with real identities attached.

The Huffington Post is also clamping down on vicious comments. In addition to employing 40 human moderators who sift through readers' posts for racism, homophobia, hate speech and the like, the AOL-owned news site is also chipping away at anonymous commenting. Previously, anyone could respond to an article posted on the site by creating an account, without tying it to an email address. This fall, HuffPo began requiring people to verify their identity by connecting their accounts to an email address.

"We are reaching a place where the Internet is growing up," says Jimmy Soni, managing editor of HuffPo. "These changes represent a maturing (online) environment."

This doesn't mean that people have to use their names when commenting. But Soni says the changes have already made a difference in the quality of the comments. The lack of total anonymity, while not a failsafe method, offers people a "gut check moment," he says. There have been "significantly fewer things that we would not be able to share with our mothers," in the HuffPo comments section since the change, Soni says.

Newspapers are also turning toward regulated comments. Of the largest 137 U.S. newspapers - those with daily circulation above 50,000 - nearly 49 percent ban anonymous commenting, according to Arthur Santana, assistant communications professor at the University of Houston. Nearly 42 percent allow anonymity, while 9 percent do not have comments at all.

Curbing anonymity doesn't always help. Plenty of people are fine attaching their names and Facebook profiles to poorly spelled outbursts that live on long after their fury has passed.

In some cases, sites have gone further. Popular Science, the 141-year-old science and technology magazine, stopped allowing comments of any kind on its news articles in September.

While highlighting responses to articles about climate change and abortion, Popular Science online editor Suzanne LaBarre announced the change and explained in a blog post that comments can be "bad for science."

Because "comments sections tend to be a grotesque reflection of the media culture surrounding them, the cynical work of undermining bedrock scientific doctrine is now being done beneath our own stories," wrote LaBarre.

[A critic (24ahead?) pointed out that readers serve as fact-checkers, and that without them, a site cannot be considered factually reliable. Popular Science readers were pointing out false statements. The critic, if memory serves, was also talking about The Atlantic, where Nkosi Thandiwe, er, I mean Ta-Nehisi Coates has been getting everyone permablocked, including yours truly, who disagrees with him.]

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Qawmane Wilson, left, was arrested and charged with murder on Dec. 22, 2013 after an investigation determined that he arranged to have his mother, Yolanda Holmes, murdered in September 2012. Also arrested and charged were Loriana Johnson, center, and Eugene Spencer. (Chicago Police Dept.)

A West Side man arranged the murder of his mother, a well-known owner of a beauty salon in Uptown, to gain access to more than $90,000 from her bank accounts and the proceeds from two of her life insurance policies, authorities said today.

Qawmane Wilson, 24, of the 0-100 block of North Mayfield Avenue in the North Austin neighborhood, has been charged with murder and home invasion in the death of his mother, Yolanda Holmes, 45, in September of 2012, authorities said.

Charged with Wilson are Eugene Spencer, 22, of the 6100 block of South Rockwell Street, who prosecutors said killed Holmes, and Loriana Johnson, 23, of the 300 block of East 131st Place, who served as Spencer's driver.

All three were ordered held without bail today by Judge Adam Bourgeois, Jr., who called the slaying a "heinous act."

After the hearing, one relative of both Wilson and Holmes collapsed in the hall outside bond court and began crying. Another apparent family member with him declined comment.

Holmes, the owner of the Nappy Headzsalon, was killed about 4:15 a.m. Sept. 2 at her home in the 1000 block of West Montrose Avenue, authorities said. An autopsy showed she died of multiple stab wounds and a gunshot wound to her head.

Wilson was arrested Sunday after a police investigation determined he had arranged to "have his mother murdered," police said. He was charged with murder and home invasion.

Assistant State’s Attorney Maura White said Wilson, who has his mother's name tattooed on his right shoulder according to court records, liquidated his mother's bank accounts, valued at over $90,000, a week after her death. He was also the beneficiary of two of her life insurance policies.

Cell phone records revealed that Wilson called Spencer and Johnson "before, during and after the murder," White said. Both Wilson and Spencer admitted to their roles in the scheme, she said.

Spencer, arrested Monday, is charged with first degree murder, home invasion, and aggravated discharge of a firearm. He shot Holmes, according to a statement from the Chicago Police Department Office of News Affairs.

Johnson, who police said drove Spencer to and from the crime scene, was also arrested Monday and charged with murder and home invasion.

Holmes, who often used her salon in the 4100 block of North Broadway as a venue to publicize or host community events like back-to-school parties for young students, was well known in Uptown, colleagues said after the murder. She was always willing to lend a helping hand to those in need, family and friends said.

"She had a real nice personality, always trying to help people," her uncle James Newman said.

"I just don't see who would do something to her," said Ayonna Anderson, one of Holmes' stylists. "I just don't understand."

"She is a very good person. For that to happen to her is a blow to a lot of us," said Joseph Adibu, owner of Broadway Super Coin Laundry, at the time. "It's very painful."

Bynum has averaged 8.4 points in 24 games this season.(Photo: David Richard, USA TODAY Sports)

The Cleveland Cavaliers have suspended Andrew Bynum indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team, general manager Chris Grant announced Saturday.

Bynum has not bought in to what the Cavaliers are trying to accomplish, and with a young a team, he had turned into a negative influence, a person familiar with the situation told USA TODAY Sports.

The person requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the sensitive nature of the situation.

Cleveland signed Bynum to a two-year, $24.5 million contract this summer despite the former All-Star center missing the entire 2012-13 season with knee injuries. If they waive him by Jan. 7, only $6 million of his deal is guaranteed.

It's unclear if the Cavs would be willing to release him before Jan. 7 if they can't find a trade partner. But they do let him go, a person with knowledge of the situation said that the Los Angeles Clippers would have serious interest in signing him.

The Clippers have a lack of depth behind Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan in their frontcourt and are well aware they need help in that department, especially in the tough Western Conference. Bryon Mullens and Ryan Hollins are averaging a combined 5.2 points and three rebounds per game in the post.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the private nature of personnel decisions.

The Brooklyn Nets, who just lost center Brook Lopez to a broken right foot, are not planning to seek Bynum, through trade or a straight signing, according to a person familiar with the Nets thinking.

Lopez's injury could keep him out for the rest of the season. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the private nature of personnel decisions.

In early November, Bynum said he had lost his joy for basketball, and the person told USA TODAY Sports he is still struggling with that.

The situation had been building over the past month, and it reached a tipping point at practice Friday. There was no outburst or physical alternation – just a continued insistence from Bynum to do what he wants with little regard to team goals. The person said if Bynum wasn't committed 100% there is no reason for him to be with the team right now.

Bynum has started 19 of the 24 games he's played for Cleveland, averaging 8.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 20 minutes per game. For the past 12 games, he has averaged 10.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and shooting 45.1% from the field, all while playing 23.3 minutes.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Caveat emptor: Please thoroughly vet any individual or organization, before giving it your money. However, it does speak for Britain First that it has been condemned by the racist hate group, Wikipedia.

Date: Sat, 28 Dec 2013 09:31:27 -0800
From: info@britainfirst.org

Subject: M & S Muslim store worker refuses to serve a customer buying a children’s book on Christianity because she said it was “unclean”

Fellow patriot,

The Marks and Spencer saga of Muslim appeasement continues!

Shopper, Sally Friday, felt publicly humiliated at a branch of Marks & Spencer when she tried to pay for ‘First Bible Stories’ as a gift for her young grandson.

When she put the book on the check-out counter, the Muslim assistant refused to touch it, declared it was unclean and summoned another member of staff to serve instead.

Mrs Friday said she was so upset that she has now complained to the store’s management.

Mrs Friday said her trip to the sales in Reading, Berks, with her daughter had been ruined.

“I went to the till and heard the girl say it was unclean and then she got someone else to serve me,” said Mrs Friday.

“At first I wasn’t sure what was going on and then I realised she was wearing a headdress and I clicked that the title of the book had Bible in it. I felt very humiliated and immediately left the store.”

Mrs Friday, from Old Basing, Hants, added:

“I have given it careful thought and still feel humiliated that, because I am purchasing a children’s Bible story book, a cashier is able to object and refuse to put it through the till.”

“Had this been a copy of the Koran I am confident any Christian person would be happy to do her job, and for this to happen in a Marks & Spencer of all places beggars belief.”

“I am not racist but I have vowed never to let a person wearing a headdress serve me again. It will be a long, long time before I shop again at M&S.”

This new row comes after the recent scandal where M&S informed Muslim staff they can refuse to serve customers buying alcohol and pork.

This is Britain not Saudi Arabia!

What next? When will the next craven acquiescence to a foreign religion come?

Why is it that Britain seeks to appease every other religion or ethnic group, but there is no reciprocal move by those countries to accommodate OUR customs and religion?

For example, despite the presence of thousands of Saudi funded mosques in Britain, there is not a single Christian church in the whole of Saudi Arabia!

Britain, like it or sod off back to your own countries!

There is only one culture that should be present in Britain, and that’s British culture!

We will not sit back and watch idly as our country is Islamified!

Remember: if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem!

I understand there is a recession raging at the moment, but the campaign to ensure our children’s future and our nation’s survival continues regardless!

Is our country worth £1 a week to you? Are our children worth £1 a week to you?

I want you to sign up to a ‘Patriot’s Pledge’ for just £4 per month that will empower the Britain First movement to take action on behalf of our beleaguered people.

Can you find it within your heart to sacrifice a paltry £4 per month for your country?

If you cannot volunteer as an activist pounding the streets giving out leaflets and canvassing our people for support, then will you help provide the resources our frontline activists so desperately need?

When you sign up, £4 will be debited from your card every month (via ultra-secure PayPal) and will provide the regular funding our activists need to execute our campaigns and spread our message of hope and salvation for our long suffering nation.

Every penny generously donated will be wisely spent on campaigns, literature and leaflets.

Help build a secure future for our people by signing up to a ‘Patriot’s Pledge’, today!

"OGDEN Utah (ABC 4 News) - A man who lost his wife and eventually his son says he never paid attention to what happened to the killers. He had other important things to do, mainly keep his son alive and live his own life."

This is one of the few horrors of this kind in which the perpetrators have been executed. The victims were forced to drink Drano. The perps took the time to rape the 18-year old girl before killing her.

I obtained the DVD of the Richard Chamberlain TV movie based on the crime and saw it last night. The murders were shown, but were toned down somewhat for understandable reasons. The race of the killers was shown accurately, for once. The main focus of the movie was a family's recovery.

The Utah NAACP demanded the killers receive "life with the chance of parole" instead of death. This isn't in the movie.

OGDEN Utah (ABC 4 News) - A man who lost his wife and eventually his son says he never paid attention to what happened to the killers. He had other important things to do, mainly keep his son alive and live his own life.

OGDEN Utah (ABC 4 News) – It was a horrible crime in 1974 that is still affecting the families of victims today.

The Ogden Hi-Fi murders were a case of a robbery that went bad. [Ugh. PC cliché alert! But it’s also a race alert.] The crime involved torture, rape, and murder. Some of the victims survived but were never the same.

It happened on April 22, 1974 and Ogden police come across a grisly scene.

“There was police down there and everything and I had no idea what was going on,” recalls Byron Naisbitt who lost his wife Carol and eventually his son Cortney.

When police arrived to the music shop there are three dead bodies and two other victims were fighting to stay alive.

But Cortney was caught in the middle of the robbery when Carol walked in.

"I was surprised she was alive at all," says Naisbitt.

In a 1987 commutation hearing before convicted killer Pierre Dale Selby was put to death, he described the horrible deaths.

“I just continued shooting,” Selby says. “I figured I had shot Naisbitt so I just started shooting everybody else. When I was using the bathroom I saw the Drano in there."

All the victims including Carol and Cortney were tortured, forced to drink Drano before eventually being shot in the head.

“I remember the noise they were making, the sound of pain really,” Selby told the commutation board.

Carol Naisbitt died at the hospital.

18-year old Michelle Ansley was raped and killed.

20-year old Stanley Walker also died, but his father, Orrin Walker, and Cortney survived the brutal attacks.

“They found a bottle of Drano down there they forced to take it, figuring it would kill him,” Naisbitt told ABC 4 News. “My hell I'd hate to take a teaspoon of that.”

Fearing the worst Naisbitt says he went to the hospital looking for his wife and son.

“I went down in the morgue to identify her and I can still see her,” he says. “That's amazing I think and she was dead.”

Cortney was in a coma. Doctors feared he wouldn’t make it. So did his father.

“So I knew my life had changed right there,” he says.

Cortney did pull through. But his father says he was never the same.

“He was still bright,” Naisbitt says. “(He had) A different kind of brilliance, different kind of brilliance.”

As for the killers, Naisbitt says there was no thought of revenge or hate.

“I had none of that,” he says. “I figured right off the bat that they were going to be taken care of and I didn't give them one thought.”

The justice system did take care of it. In 1987 Selby was put to death by lethal injection. Five years later, William Andrews who also participated in the crime was also executed at the Utah state prison.

A third man, Keith Roberts who was waiting in the getaway car, was convicted of robbery and was sent to prison. He was released in 1987.

“I didn't give it a thought,” Naisbitt says. “They had their choice on how to die. I didn't follow it that close.”

Naisbitt’s son Cortney lived twenty-eight more years. Despite his injuries, Cortney was able to work and get married but later died a mysterious death at an early age of 44.

“They couldn't find anything,” his father says. “(There was) Nothing in the brain nothing in his body. He just died.”

As for Byron Naisbitt, he remarried and finally retired from his medical practice after delivering thousands of babies in Ogden.

April 22nd 1974 changed his life forever. But his resolve to move on helped him live life to the fullest still remembering his murdered wife and son and not allowing the heinous acts of two men to guide him on his path in life.

"My life is going to go on,” he says. “Hey nobody's going to change that but me, nobody."

In 1984, the Ogden Hi-Fi murders were turned into a book; “Victim: The Other Side of Murder by Gary Kinder.

It profiled the Naisbitt family, Cortney's struggle to live and a father's determination to keep him alive.

It was the first time the focus was on the victim of a violent crime.

Later in 1992, Hollywood turned the Naisbitt’s story into a movie: “Aftermath, A Test of Love.”

In his eulogy, President Obama put Nelson Mandela in the company of three other heroes: Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Abraham Lincoln.

What did these men have in common? Three were assassinated, and all four are icons of resistance to white rule over peoples of color….

[Actually, Mandela and King were icons of black rule over whites.]

Obama's heroes testify to his belief that the great moral struggle of the age is the struggle for racial equality….

[Wrong: Obama's heroes testify to his belief that the great moral struggle of the age is the struggle for genocidal black supremacism.]

Across Europe, globalism and transnationalism, as represented by the eurozone and EU, seem in retreat, as nationalism is resurgent. Now it is the UKIP, a new British independence party, which seeks to secede from the EU that is surging—at the expense of the Tories.

Let France be France! Let Britain be Britain! Let Scotland be Scotland! These are the cries coming from the hearts of Europeans rejecting mass immigration and the cacophonous madness of multiculturalism.

All men may be equal in rights. But most prefer their own faith, country, culture, civilization, and kind. They cherish and wish to maintain their own unique and separate identities. They do not want to disappear into some great amalgam of the New World Order.

Always easy to brew up a s--t storm when you speak the truth about a member of a protected class.

Some Washington Times reader comments follow.

DMG2FUN
There was a high speed chase in AZ the other day. The criminal fleeing from police was an illegal immigrant. He had been deported ten times. I would dare to say he was hoping for amnesty.

another_engineer to DMG2FUN
Bet he was sentenced to a free college education...

another_engineer
Isn't that cute.. the open borders crowd will tell you he's doing Jesus's work and the jobs that americans won't do...........

obozo1
How is this news? These are going to be our new neighbors and overlords.

Bill Jones
Big deal, In Arizona they catch young children and teenagers trying to smuggle cocaine, heroin and meth all of the time. It happens so often that it does not even make the news.

The cartels are here folks. Wait for what happens when they give amnesty.

RecoveringLiberal
Illegals' children are used in crime frequently in the US. I was burglarized by a man who broke a side window in my home, then pushed a Mexican kid inside my home to go and open the front door to let him in. Illegals' kids also ride bikes around neighborhoods looking for people who aren't home. They then communicate with Illegal adults with whistle signals to identify prospective burglary targets.

IVDAD
Boehner would know ignorant, each time he looks in the mirror or opens his mouth.

Realist
HE WAS RIGHT.

Even the Liberal Media, who chastised him are ALL SILENT now.

That is what cowardly Hate Mongering Liberals do, when they are confronted with facts. They become silent, and slink back under their rock, until they try to gang-up on, and condemn the NEXT truth-sayer.

CONSERVATIVES UNITE, or be forever silenced by the growing Liberal Masses.

bike mike
A bully little chap

bossou
Mexico ,I'm not sure our relationship is working out it seems one sided

Guy Incogneato
Just another Dreamer!!!! This kid will be given a free ride through college. Paid for by the American Tax payer.

The U.S. Border Patrol earlier this month arrested a 12-year-old illegal immigrant smuggling 80 pounds of marijuana from Mexico into Texas, reigniting a debate over controversial comments made by a Republican congressman earlier this year about children’s involvement in the cross-border drug trade.

Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican who has called for a crackdown on illegal immigration, had said there were more young illegal immigrants smuggling drugs than there were ones who were valedictorians of their classes in U.S. high schools.

In the Texas incident earlier this month, Border Patrol agents arrested six Mexicans — two adults, two 17-year-olds, a 16-year-old and the 12-year-old — smuggling more than 300 pounds of marijuana.

“They were carrying the marijuana on their backs and when arrested it was discovered that the 12-year-old boy had the heaviest load at 80 pounds,” the Border Patrol said in a statement describing the arrest.

The adults and one of the 17-year-old children were held after the early December incident, but the others — including the 12-year-old — were returned to Mexico, the Border Patrol said.

Mr. King said the incident shows he wasn’t exaggerating his claim that children smuggling drugs into the U.S. is part of the immigration debate.

“My critics were either woefully uninformed or deliberately misinformed the public for the purpose of advancing their amnesty agenda,” he said in a statement.

He stirred up the controversy over the summer when was talking about some of the tougher cases in immigration, such as the so-called “Dreamers” — the young illegal immigrants who are generally portrayed as having been brought to the U.S. by their parents.

“Some of them are valedictorians — and their parents brought them in. It wasn’t their fault. It’s true in some cases, but they aren’t all valedictorians. [Actually, virtually none of them are valedictorians.] They weren’t all brought in by their parents. For everyone who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds — and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert,” the congressman told Newsmax.

Mr. King’s critics included everyone from the New Yorker magazine to late-night comics to House Speaker John A. Boehner, who called the comments “hateful or ignorant.”

Immigration advocates delivered cantaloupes to Mr. King’s office, and some started circulating a petition trying to pressure the GOP to oust Mr. King from his seat on the House Judiciary Committee’s immigration subcommittee.

When I saw the headlines I thought: Finally someone is calling the Knockout Game a hate crime! Then I read the article and realized why. Funny thing is, I wasn't really all that surprised...

An update on the previous email I sent on the Knockout Game “hate crime.” This latest MSN headline is upping the ante; it has “hate crime” attached to the headline and full color picture of the white male perp (something they can be very coy about, when the perps are black). It's clear the media are going to make a white man the “face” of the Knockout Game. Regardless that 95% of the perpetrators of this violence are blacks attacking whites. That figure is purely a subjective estimate, but I have absolutely no doubt it’s roughly accurate. The media were just waiting for a white man to do something like this, so it felt confident in rising up in self-righteous racial posturing. Predictable and disgusting.

The only flicker of hope in this absurdity is reading the comments fields under the headlines [before they’re sent down the memory hole]. It’s clear that many in the general public are not fooled, and are calling the media out on their hypocrisy.

NEW: Alleged attacker will be in court Friday afternoon for detention hearing

His attorney says his client has bipolar disorder

Victim suffered two jaw fractures and was hospitalized for days, complaint says

In separate case, New York police charged a knockout suspect with a hate crime

(CNN) -- A man has been charged with a federal hate crime in connection with what authorities say was a racially motivated "knockout" assault against an elderly black man, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.

Conrad Alvin Barrett, 27, of Katy, Texas, has been charged with one count of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

According to the federal complaint, Barrett attacked the 79-year-old man "because of the man's race and color." He will next appear in court Friday afternoon for a detention hearing.

The suspect made a video of the attack November 24, the complaint said. In the video, he allegedly commented that "the plan is to see if I were to hit a black person, would this be nationally televised?"

"Knockout game": Fact or Fiction?

Examining the "knockout" game

Media to blame for "knockout game" hype?

He then allegedly "hit the man with such force that the man immediately fell to the ground. Barrett then laughed and said 'knockout,' as he ran to his vehicle and fled."

The victim suffered two jaw fractures and was hospitalized for several days, the complaint said.

Barrett's attorney, George Parnham, told CNN the affidavit does not "pull back the layers of mental health."

His client has bipolar disorder and takes medication, Parnham said in an earlier call.

Parnham said he could not state whether his client carried out the attack, but, "mental health issues definitely played a part in anything that occurred."

Barrett "is very sorry for this person," Parnham said, adding that he and his client haven't had much opportunity to discuss the facts of the case.

"Knockout game" a national problem

The "knockout game" is an assault in which an assailant aims to knock out an unsuspecting victim with one punch.

According to the Justice Department complaint, there have been "knockout game" incidents, some of which have been called other names, as long ago as 1992.

New York police previously charged suspect Marajh Amrit with a hate crime in the alleged attack of a white Jewish man as part of a "knockout" game.

Similar cases have been reported recently in several states, including Illinois, Missouri and Washington.

"Hate crimes tear at the fabric of entire communities," U.S. Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels said Thursday in a Justice Department statement announcing the charge against Barrett. "As always, the Civil Rights Division will work with our federal and state law enforcement partners to ensure that hate crimes are identified and prosecuted, and that justice is done."

Barrett, who is white, allegedly recorded himself on his cell phone attacking the man and showed the video to others, the department said. "The complaint alleges Barrett made several videos, one in which he identifies himself and another in which he makes a racial slur. In addition, Barrett had allegedly been working up the 'courage' to play the 'knockout game' for approximately a week."

The victim's face was swollen on one side, and he has had to use a straw to drink, a nephew, Joseph Lewis, told CNN affiliate KTRK-TV in Houston.

The station reported that Barrett faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

Barrett told an off-duty police officer what happened and shared a video, saying he felt bad, the affidavit said.

In other videos on his phone that police confiscated, Barrett used the N-word and said that African-Americans "haven't fully experienced the blessing of evolution," according to the criminal complaint.

"It is unimaginable in this day and age that one could be drawn to violently attack another based on the color of their skin," said Special Agent in Charge Stephen Morris of the FBI's Houston office. "We remind all citizens that we are protected under the law from such racially motivated attacks, and encourage everyone to report such crimes to the FBI."

New York case

In a separate case, New York City police on Wednesday searched for a man who allegedly punched a 33-year-old woman in the back of the head in Brooklyn in what may be a "knockout" assault.

Despite that and other cases, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said last month that city officials haven't seen evidence of a trend, though they are not ruling out the idea.

"The press has named it the so-called knockout game. We don't discount that that exists. It's a possibility. We've investigated and will continue to investigate," Kelly told reporters in late November.

About Me

I am a dissident journalist, whose work has been published in dozens of daily newspapers, magazines, and journals in English, German, and Swedish, under my own name and many pseudonyms. While living in internal exile in New York, where I am whitelisted, I maintain NSU/The Wyatt Earp Journalism Bureau and some eight other blogs (some are distinctive but occasional venues, while others are mirrors), and also write for stout-hearted men such as Peter Brimelow and Jared Taylor. Please hit the “Donate” button on your way out. Thanks, in advance.
Follow my tweets at @NicholasStix.

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